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The War On Cars

Fix added that the higher fuel standards have also resulted in cars becoming "smaller" and "lighter," which naturally means they aren't as safe as cars that aren't as fuel efficient.

Additionally, the CAFE standards are attempting to encourage consumers to purchase electric cars, which cost $20,000 more on average over the life of the vehicle and which are can be more detrimental to the environment than cars that rely solely on gasoline.

"Electric vehicles produce three times as much toxic pollution as gas powered ones when you factor in the mining of rare earth minerals that electric car batteries require," Fix said. "And this doesn't include the environmental consequences involved in ultimately disposing of these batteries."

Fix also pointed out that the batteries of electric cars tend to last for less than 100 miles and can take anywhere from 4-8 hours to recharge.

Local governments are also attempting to push people away from using cars by restricting parking:

Former Boston Mayor Tom Menino once declared, “The car is no longer king” before banning all cars in a popular downtown shopping district. Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of DC, actually encourages people to adopt a “car-free diet” and live in one of the county’s “urban villages.” Seattle, meanwhile, plans to “aggressively” discourage driving by limiting parking spots, even though cars are “an unavoidable part of work and life for most people,” according to the Seattle Times.

We’re tempted to suggest a conspiracy here — but it’s just liberals agreeing yet again that conservatives have hidden, evil motives, because modern liberals simply can’t conceive of any other reason to disagree with the liberal consensus.

“Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.”

"Fix added that the higher fuel standards have also resulted in cars becoming "smaller" and "lighter,"
-Since when? The top selling vehicles have been trucks and SUVs for a decade or more.

"electric cars, which cost $20,000 more on average over the life of the vehicle"
-Electric cars do not cost $20k more than their counterparts. A Tesla S may be $20k more than a fully loaded accord, but they are not the same class vehicle. Coincidentally (not really), the difference between most electric and non-electric versions of the same vehicle (like a VW Golf vs eGolf) is about the same amount as the tax credit ($8k), but over the lifetime they have much much less upkeep cost (oil changes, and vehicle repairs), and almost always considerably cheaper to run.

"can be more detrimental to the environment than cars that rely solely on gasoline."
-True. I think last year or the year before the Yaris was the vehicle with the least environmental impact. But not being a hippy that cares about the environment, IDGAF. Although it's funny that they point out mining rare-earth minerals for batteries, but ignore gas tanks in the ground at service stations constantly leaching chemicals (and until a couple of decades ago lead).

"tend to last for less than 100 miles and can take anywhere from 4-8 hours to recharge."
-What is this, 2006? Even the puny Leaf and Chevy Spark gets over 100 miles now. The standard is 200, with many models capably of 300 to 400 miles. The ones with the small mileage are usually toy cars (Smart, etc.) or are a plug-in hybrid, so they only get 30-50 miles on electric before kicking over to gas (the best solution, in my opinion). As for charging, new fast charge standards will supply 120KW, providing around 200 miles of range in 20 minutes. Home chargers may take 8 hours, but who cares, you are just topping off. And you can buy a 22KW home charger that will still fully charge most vehicles in under 2 hours.

Agreed, pretty crappy article. Smaller lighter cars? He really doesn't know much about it, does he? Size for size, todays cars weight much more than they used to in the 80s and nineties. the daughters 91 Geo Storm, a 2+2 sort of format, weighted about 2,300lbs. The same sort of car today, a Ford Fiesta, will weigh from 300-500lbs more. Same for the Civics of 1991 and 2017. And given equivalent crashes, much safer than the older cars.